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This article uses the findings from a qualitative study of Australian young people in their first year of full-time work to examine the nature and utility of off-the-job training in apprenticeships and traineeships. The findings confirm the conclusions of earlier studies about the importance of off-the-job training as a supplement for workplace learning. It was found that, while initially not attaching much value to off-the-job training, the young people gained more of an appreciation, during the course of the year, of what off-the-job training had to offer. Other findings about off-the-job training included: the superiority of face-to-face training as opposed to other forms of delivery; the importance of young people’s relationship with their off-the-job trainers; the ‘implicit contract’ of expectations of the parties to the training contract; the different viewpoints of the parties; and the dissatisfaction of those in traineeships with the lack of intellectual challenge in their competency-based curriculum.

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Little has been published in the Australian vocational education and training (VET) literature on the topic of pre-apprenticeships, which are a loose type of preparatory courses for apprenticeships available in some trades. Nevertheless, pre-apprenticeships have been in existence for several decades. With continuing concern over skill shortages in Australia, the research study on which this paper is based investigated the role of pre-apprenticeship courses in addressing skill shortages in the electrotechnology, automotive and engineering trades, some of the largest 'traditional trades' in Australia, and those with sizeable numbers in pre-apprenticeships. The principal objective of the overall study was to determine whether the use of pre-apprenticeships increased the size and suitability of the supply of entrants to the traditional apprenticeships and whether pre-apprenticeships do or might increase completion rates in apprenticeships. The paper uses findings from the study to develop a typology of pre-apprenticeship courses, proposing two fundamental orientations and discussing whether different orientations towards pre-apprenticeships are compatible with one another.

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The paper draws evidence from a recent research project that analysed 10 national apprenticeship systems to suggest options for the development of the Indian apprenticeship system. Apprenticeship systems are often viewed as pivotal to the development of a skilled workforce. The combination of on and off the job learning, together with a period of extended practice overseen by expert workers, provided by apprenticeships, is believed to be ideal for the development of skilled workers. The impact of the global financial crisis raised the profile of apprenticeships as a way of combating youth unemployment (e.g. ILO, 2013). Apprenticeships vary considerably between countries and many aspects are culturally, socially, politically and economically specific. Thus one cannot transplant a system from one country to another and expect it to operate as it did in the relevant homeland. However, key features of countries' systems can be identified, sensitively adapted, and developed in other countries. This paper describes [the authors'] project's findings, with particular reference to countries where the 'school-to-work transition' is a primary concern. The paper also provides insights from the English apprenticeship system which treats young and older workers differently, and from a detailed study examining challenges faced by young people commencing apprenticeships.

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This paper reports on part of a major research project on jobs traditionally considered to be unskilled. The project was funded by the Australian Research Council and involved detailed exploration of nine occupations, seven of which are considered to be low-skilled, to attempt to uncover the skill that was present in those jobs. The project hoped to correct some perceptions of certain jobs as unskilled or low-skilled, to effect an improvement in training for the occupations, and to provide evidence for industry stakeholders to help improve the perceptions of the jobs and the people that undertake them.

In this paper, the authors look at so-called low-skilled work through the lens of three of the nine occupations: retail assistant (non-supermarket), security officer and concrete products worker. In these occupations the consequences of perceptions about lack of skill are manifested in low pay, low status, low levels of government funding for training, poor quality training, and self-perception by workers that their jobs are not worthwhile. The research showed that all three jobs involved many technical and non-technical skills that were not generally recognised. The workers tended to internalise external negative perceptions of skill in the job, finding it difficult to articulate many of the skills they deployed. Managers and industry stakeholders, on the other hand, tended to be more aware of the inherent skill in the occupations. The paper uses the research in these three occupations to examine a number of issues. These include the reasons for perceptions of low skill in the jobs; consequences for workers and their on-the-job learning, of perceptions of low skill; the interplay of training quality and training take-up with the respect accorded to the occupation; and the ways in which perceptions of skill in work might be more closely aligned to the real nature of occupations.

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This paper examines a question posed in 2019 in the International Journal on Training and Development: 'How do we solve a problem like apprenticeship?' Data sources covering a substantial number of countries are used to present findings on, and analyse, initiatives that have been implemented or that have been considered, and then to develop some analytical constructs to help address the question. Fundamental issues such as the status of vocational education and training and the status of apprenticed occupations are important, but the nature of the apprenticeship arrangements, within countries and within industries are also major factors affecting perceived attractiveness.

The paper therefore argues that the heterogeneity of apprenticeship systems and arrangements is a major barrier to solving the attractiveness problem. Moreover, the heterogeneity of potential apprenticeship applicants means that marketing campaigns or other efforts to attract more, and higher quality, apprentices need to be cognisant of individuals' backgrounds, characteristics, and aspirations. Some tentative ways of addressing these matters are presented, but the conclusion is that the topic needs large-scale research.

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This paper presents an exploratory study identifying factors that may influence a learner’s choice of technology for e-learning. These factors include learning style, technology acceptance, use and competence, as well as stage in course. The respondents were predominantly from Generation Y, were technologically competent and positively disposed towards e-learning technologies. Their learning styles were predominantly ‘doing’, with no ‘diverging’ students represented. E-learning appeared to be most useful in replicating face-to-face lectures, and the recreational popularity of social networking technologies appeared not to flow through into formal education settings.

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This research study aimed to find out how teenage workers developed their employability skills in their first formal jobs and set out to document the processes by which first-time workers develop these skills while at work. During mid-2002, case studies were carried out in 12 Australian enterprises (including three group training companies) of varying size, and drawn from different industry areas. The enterprises were located in four states: New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, and included examples of novice workers who were part-time student workers as well as school leavers in their first jobs. Industry areas chosen were indicative of those employing the majority of novice workers, and included fast food, retail, electrical, electronics, hairdressing, hospitality, administration, local government, manufacturing and newspaper delivery. The study found that although employability skills may be developed through a range of activities and at a variety of locations, there are reasons why workplaces are appropriate and even vitally important sites for their development. Employability skills are developed throughout a person’s working life and hence employers need to view the process of employability skills development as a whole-of-workforce issue. Finally, there was little indication from the research that employers desired novice workers to be any different from the way they were already. They accepted that, in employing a teenager who had never worked before, they would have to put some effort into making the employee a functioning worker. The report is therefore not advocating any radical departure from existing practice, but merely an extension of such practice to more workplaces. The report also offers a number of suggestions for formalising many of the strategies which already exist. Show less

Few Australian school students, particularly those completing their senior secondary years, leave school without some experience of workplaces. While well over half of school students now have part-time work, the traditional work experience program is still the most common way in which secondary students gain some knowledge of workplaces. However, little policy attention is expended on work experience and it is viewed in some quarters as a 'poor relation' of structured work placements, which form part of VET in schools programs. This article presents findings about work experience derived from a recent study of school students' learning in workplaces. School-based case studies and employer interviews were used to augment the data from a survey of 1451 school students. Despite other forms of workplace engagement becoming more common, it is argued that work experience should be retained. While aspects of work experience can be improved, it is argued that the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater.

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This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India's apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country's population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy, and is subject to very rigid regulation. Expansion of the system has been seen as vital in order to improve the supply of skills to the rapidly expanding economy, and also to address issues of disparity in labour market participation and equity for certain groups in Indian society. The paper firstly explains how findings about apprenticeship systems from 10 other countries, together with analysis of the Indian situation, were used to present options for consideration by the Indian government. It then analyses these options for their social justice and equity implications.

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This good practice guide is based on research that set out to identify the features of high-quality traineeships and those factors that either facilitate or inhibit their quality. To assist providers and employers offering traineeships, the guide sets out the features of good traineeships, starting from the recruitment phase through to completion.

The research study on which this guide is based, ‘High quality traineeships: identifying what works’ is indexed at TD/TNC 97.09. Show less